By MARK TODD - Staff Writer - mtodd@starbeacon.com
CONNEAUT — Interviews with city officials, contained in a lengthy police report, provide extra details on asphalt grindings at the heart of a recently concluded police investigation.
No criminal charges will result from the probe, and investigators said they found no evidence of wrongdoing.
Robert Howland, former Public Works Department director, told police city personnel and equipment were used to transport and spread the grits atop two stone access roads built by a private contractor to reach wells drilled inside the city-owned East Conneaut Industrial Park, according to the report. The work was done over a three-day period in July and involved — depending on the day — three or four Public Works employees, Howland told police. Trucks, an excavator and grader were used in the project, he said. No money was paid for the service, Howland said in interviews.
Robert Barnett, president of American Energy, the Cortland firm that drilled the wells, told police he did not seek the grindings nor agree to pay the city for the material.
“I went to the well, and I saw (the grindings) there,” Barnett said in his statement. “I think it was a goodwill gesture.”
The access roads were built on either side of Route 20, which bisects the industrial park.
Some councilmen have been critical of the effort, saying the grindings have some cash value. The grindings, created from past resurfacing projects, have been stored at the city’s compost site within the industrial park for several years.
Detective Michael Colby handled the investigation for the police department. In a memo to Public Safety Director Jon Arcaro, Colby said he determined a “minimal amount” of grindings were spread on the north access road. More were put atop the south access road, which stretches about two-tenths of a mile, he wrote.
“There is no doubt that road grindings were used to enhance the already-created access roadways leading to two separate gas wells,” Colby said.
However, the depth of the grindings was no more than 1 to 1.5 inches, Colby said. The exact number of loads used in the project is not known.
City administrators, primarily City Manager Robert Schaumleffel Jr., have said the city was merely helping to build roads it expects to retain in the future. The city plans to collect the salt brine that results from the drilling process and one day hopes to build a new street garage in the park, officials have said.
While the city did not charge American Energy for the grindings, it has sold the material to other entities, including private individuals and the Conneaut Fish and Game Club, Howland told police. Checks were made payable to the city of Conneaut, Howland said.
The city charged $150 a load for the grindings, Finance Director John Williams said Tuesday. The city earned less than $2,000 for the sales, he said.
Investigators were unanimous in their belief the city was blameless in the matter. Colby, in his report, said he has closed the investigation as “unfounded.” Arcaro reported “absolutely no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Bob Howland.”
Ashtabula City Solicitor Michael Franklin, asked to analyze the report, found the allegations “somewhat exaggerated.”
“Even if a technical charge of some kind were possible, I for one would be extremely reluctant to invest any more public resources than those that have already been expended in the investigation of this relatively minor matter,” Franklin wrote.
Councilmen Dave Campbell and Charles Lewis, of Ward 1 and Ward 2, respectively, were also interviewed for the investigation. Lewis, who has spearheaded the grindings probe, said Monday night he wanted a chance to study the report before commenting.
